Karel Doorman

Karel Doorman (23 April 1889-28 February 1942) was a Rear Admiral of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the commander of ABDACOM naval forces during World War II.

Biography
Karel Doorman was born in Utrecht, Netherlands on 23 April 1889, and he was commissioned as a midshipman in the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1906. He served as a naval aviation school instructor from 1917 to 1921 and commanded the Naval Air Base De Kooy at Den Helder from 1919 to 1921. However, budget cuts and an arm injury ended his flying career, and he instead attended the Higher Naval School in The Hague. Doorman became a captain in 1937 and Commander of Naval Aviation in the Dutch East Indies in August 1938. On 16 May 1940, he reached his final rank of Rear Admiral, and he became the naval commander of ABDACOM during World War II. His fleet was defeated at the Makassar Strait, the Badung Strait, and the Battle of the Java Sea, and he chose to go down with his flagship, HNLMS De Ruyter, when it was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Java Sea on 28 February 1942, following an old tradition.